9.10.2009

Welcome to the September 10, 2009 edition of the Objectivist Roundup, your weekly dose of intellectual fuel and ammunition.

This roundup features posts by blog authors who are students and advocates of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. She called it a "philosophy for living on earth" and further described it:

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

Considering the events of the day you may notice that most of the posts below deal with politics. But note that they all share a common philosophical grounding in Objectivism, and consistently promote individual rights and the socio-economic system of laissez-faire capitalism to protect those rights. Such is the value of this roundup--weekly commentary on crucial issues from a rational, individual rights perspective.

And with that, I am pleased to present Objectivist Roundup #113!

John Drake presents Dewey's wrong approach to education posted at Try Reason!, saying, "While in general, I am not a big fan of analyzing quotations out of context, one quote of Dewey's, whose educational philosophy I am familiar with, is packed full of philosophic assumptions. I look at some of flawed ideas supporting his statement."

Stephen Bourque presents The Treachery of Unintegrated Facts posted at One Reality, saying, "The young professional today righteously places a “Question Authority” bumper sticker next to the “Obama/Biden” label on the trunk of his hybrid car, blissfully unaware that he accepts every government directive and politically-correct norm without question."

Trey Givens presents Caveman-Friendly Shepherd's Pie posted at Trey Givens, saying, "Autumn is coming to NYC and being tired of lighter fare, I decided it's time to find some comfort food for the winter. With that in mind, I made over a recipe for Shepherd's Pie to make it caveman friendly. It was delicious, cheap, and easy. Enjoy!"

"The following is a chronicle of the events preceding, during, and after the downtown protest I organized against the “emergency” curfew ordinance – events which led to my arrest for "contributing to the delinquency of a minor.""

I spent 17 hours in a detainment cell drunk tank to make this article happen, so read it or I'll turn all your minors into delinquent miners. It's long (8 pages, single-spaced), so check this out when you have time and buckle up!"

Jasmine presents I Protest posted at Rational Education, saying, "My protest is quite simply, because I am quite tired and fed up of making myself and my kids the guinea pigs of whatever new experiments the public schools can come up with, and force it on me. The latest President speech debate simply helped my resolve to speak out, that is all."

Kelly Elmore presents Rasselas and Happiness posted at Reepicheep's Coracle, saying, "This post is about Samuel Johnson's novel The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, Dr. Johnson's ideas about happiness (as expressed in this novel), and what that means to Objectivists."

Rational Jenn presents Mythbusting: Ayn Rand, Mommies, and Children posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "I'm usually pretty amazed by those who attack Ayn Rand personally for somehow being against the Mommy profession and children in general. So I pulled together some of her own words that contradict that sentiment."

Edward Cline presents Barack Obama: Seducer of the Young posted at The Rule of Reason, saying, "On September 8th, President Barack Obama addressed the nation's school children (from kindergarten up through high school), and, under the subterfuge of encouraging them study hard and become "the best they can be," slipped in the message that service to the country and sacrifice to others should be their primary motives."

Gus Van Horn presents Well. He is from Hawaii... posted at Gus Van Horn, saying, "Barack Obama's Justice Department will be about as effective fighting against discriminatory law as the Republicans were in dismantling the welfare state."

Doug Reich presents Inside a Bubble posted at The Rational Capitalist, saying, "Today's Chinese-US economic relationship is remarkably similar to the US-British relationship of the 1920's which gave rise to the Great Depression."